C. William Roe

Four Commitment Profiles and Their Relationships to Empowerment, Service Recovery, and Work Attitudes

Medical librarians were surveyed to determine the independent and interactive influence of career and organizational commitments on work-related outcomes. Employees dually committed to their organizations and careers reported the highest empowerment, willingness to engage in service recovery, and work satisfaction. This group was also more aware of the supervisory use of legitimate, reward, expert, and referent powers. All four commitment groups—dually committed, careerists, organizationists, and uncommitted—reported comparable avoidance of coercive power. As predicted, the ordering of reported job withdrawal intentions (ranging from highest to lowest) was uncommitted, careerists, organizationists, and dually committed; for career withdrawal intentions the ordering was uncommitted, organizationists, careerists, and dually committed.

The Effects of Organization-Based Self-Esteem on Workplace Outcomes: An Examination of Emergency Medical Technicians.

Forty-six technicians employed by an ambulance and life flight service were surveyed to examine the effects of organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) on career outcomes and quality. Results show that those high in OBSE reported stronger career commitment and weaker career withdrawal intentions than those low in OBSE. Contrary to predictions, significant differences were not found for career satisfaction and career tenure. However, there was a significant difference between the high and low groups on the import of quality. Those low in OBSE tended to devalue quality as compared to those high in OBSE. A post hoc analysis was conducted to offer insight into which aspects of quality were important to the high OBSE group.

BALANCE THEORY APPLIED TO SERVICE QUALITY: A FOCUS ON THE ORGANIZATION, PROVIDER, AND CONSUMER TRIAD

As quality experts have focused primarily on manufacturing, theoretical frameworks for examining quality in the service sector are lacking. In order to fill this gap, Heiders (1958) balance theory is applied to explain how service organization, service provider, and consumer interrelationships influence service quality. Propositions are offered pertaining to: (a) how and why positive or negative relationships among the parties in this triad are developed, and (b) the consequences of these relationships on service quality, affective outcomes, and withdrawal behaviors. Examination of the “service triangle” within this framework can enhance understanding of quality service delivery and guide future research efforts in the continuous improvement domain.

Strategic options for hospitals based on ownership type.

Strategic planning for hospitals is difficult in this era of healthcare reform. This article offers strategy options based on an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of three types of hospitals.

Increasing the effectiveness of healthcare managers. Horizontal and vertical information linkages.

In the healthcare industry, there is an increasing number of managers who operate clinics geographically separated from the administration and from other managers. Physical distance creates barriers to communication and also inhibits psychological attachment to the healthcare organization. This can result in dysfunctional management styles, with managers appearing passive, overly independent, or isolated. By choosing the best communication medium as well as the most appropriate information linkages, the administrator can improve the effectiveness of managers. Specific intervention strategies are offered for correcting dysfunctional behaviors in healthcare settings.